Sporting implements for the taking of game, including animals, fish, birds and the like, are usually relatively large implements, can have considerable weight, and are relatively unwieldy in holding the implements in a resting position. In addition, in the case of a sporting firearm, a satisfactory resting position can also include unnecessary risk for accidental discharge. Thus, in a resting position, a sporting rifle is often simply leaned against some convenient upright, such as a tree, and in this resting position the rifle is often precariously balanced and can be easily dislodged from that position and accidentally discharged. Sporting rifles and sporting bows, as well as other similar sporting weapons, cannot be satisfactorily rested on the ground, because of undesired contact with dirt and moisture. Similarly, other sporting implements, such as fishing rods, cannot be rested simply by lying the implement on the ground, since in that position the implement is not easily graspable for immediate action upon a strike of a fish and can be contaminated by dirt and moisture.
In many sporting activities there are long periods where the sporting implement involved is in a resting position. For example, in deer hunting, the deer rifle may be kept in a resting position for long periods of time at a deer hunting stand. Similarly, a hunting bow will remain in such resting position for long periods of time. Likewise, a fishing rod, during inactivity of the fish, may be in a resting position for long periods of time.
The art has provided a number of sporting implement holders for holding these implements during those resting periods. In general, these holders are designed, primarily, for only one implement, e.g. a fishing rod or a rifle or a bow, but not designed to accommodate a wide variety of such sporting implements. Furthermore, in general, these holders are designed for limited holder mounting opportunities, for example limited to mounting only on a horizontal surface such as the gunwales of a canoe or a prefabricated stand or deer hunting stand. As a result, in the use of such holders, the sportsman often finds the holder to be inapplicable for mounting on supports available to the sportsman at a particular time. Even more of a disadvantage, is that the prior art holders will accommodate essentially only one implement and if the implements are changed during the course of an activity, e.g. during the course of a day's hunt, a succession of holders must be carried and used.
Disadvantages of the above nature, have severely limited the utility of known sporting implement holders and these holders are not in wide use by sportsmen. It would, therefore, be of substantial advantage to the art to provide a sporting implements holder which is capable of securely holding at rest a variety of sporting implements, which can be adjusted to accommodate different configurations of this variety of sporting implements, and which can be securely mounted to a variety of available supports.